Who Are God’s Chosen People? Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein

Who are God's chosen people? We are approaching the 3,338th anniversary of when God came down on Mount Sinai the only time that he revealed himself >> [snorts] >> to 3 million people that were there. Are they the chosen people? Well, many people seem to point the fingers and say that the Jewish people are the chosen people. The Jewish people look at you and say no, you are chosen. You are the chosen people. What is it that mean being the chosen people? Yes, and Mount Sinai something miraculous occurred. That's 3,338 years ago. It all began 200 years before. When Jacob the third of the three patriarchs descended to Egypt with 70 descendants. There was a famine in the world and the Egypt was the superpower was where there were provisions available. During that time, they began prospering. The children of Jacob, Jacob's name was Israel as well, so the children of Israel. That's what they called as the Israelites began prospering. The Pharaohs became threatened by this new group who are prospering, who are just growing. Expeditiously, the the numbers were just staggering. And the Pharaohs worried that they're going to take over Egypt. So, what they did was they enslaved them. And they spent 200 years in slavery. It was then that Moses was approached by God by the burning bush and given instructions, "Go to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let my people go." And as you read the story in the book of Exodus, it took 10 different revelations of God, which known as a 10 plagues, till Pharaoh realized that God Almighty in heaven is the ruler of the world. And if God says let him go, you let him go. And eventually, he let all the Jews go. Many stayed behind. They weren't ready for the Exodus. But those that left, they were about 3 million children of Israel that left Egypt. And as they left Egypt heading towards Israel, they came across the sea of the reeds. Miraculously, the sea split, and then they arrived at Mount Sinai. At Mount Sinai, in the presence of 3 million people, the revelation occurred. God came down and he spoke. Imagine, God Almighty, the munificent, the omnipresent. We actually heard and saw his voice with the first two commandments. And then Moses gave over the other eight commandments. That was the beginning of the new world order. Up until then, the world was in chaos. Just think of it. There was no system. There was no judicial system, no codes, no morals, ethics. There were no guidelines. There is absolutely zero information how do the human beings function in this world? Everything else God created in creation, God put on autopilot. The bird naturally knows how to fly. The fish knows how to swim. The trees know how to grow. The ants in an ant farm know how to how to carry out the tasks. The bees know how to protect the mother bee and produce the honey. Everything that God created is on autopilot. It is the human beings that became a mystery. God created Adam and Eve and says, "You figure it out. I'm going to give you freedom. I'm going to give you the ability to make choices. Everything else in the world has no choices of their own. It's the way God set it in motion, that's how it's going to be. A chicken is going to lay its egg, no matter what. Human beings have a choices. Those choices is what was taught to us in the Bible. The God taught us what is the definition of a family unit, what's a marriage, what's a judicial system, what's the moral codes of respecting each other, respecting the elders. Everything that's put in the Bible is basically a guideline to life. And that's what the word in Hebrew for Bible is Torah. Torah means to teach a lesson. It's a guide. It's an operational guide. So, what happened in Mount Sinai? God chose the Jewish people to be his emissaries, his ambassador, to take this Torah and share it with the world. Being chosen for a job doesn't make you better than anyone. God looks at all of his children equally, but he gave us all a specific mission. God did choose the Jewish people and gave them a mission to teach the world the morals and ethics and to live by the laws that I teach you. And this is why traditional Judaism is following the laws just like it was then for 3,338 years. We still pray three times a day. We keep the kosher dietary laws. We observe the Sabbath holy. We follow the codes of morals and ethics the way God gave it to us. Does that make us better than anyone else? Absolutely not. Just look at it as a body. God created the heart. God created the brain. They are both vital organs that the whole body depends on it. Is the heart more important than the brain? Is the brain more important than the heart? Or the kidneys or the liver or the spleen or the pancreas? Every organ has its own mission and they're equally important. The heart was chosen to pump. The mind was chosen to think. So, you are chosen as well. The Jewish people were chosen to teach the world the Torah. It doesn't make them better. They are better when they act better. When they follow the ways of God and you are a godly person, you're a godly nation and you conduct yourselves that way, that is what defines you. Not by who you are, but what you do. And that's same thing for all other religion. God [snorts] with divine providence chose you to be a Christian, then you are the chosen. Chose you to be a Muslim, then you are chosen to be a Muslim. You were chosen to be a Hindu, then you are chosen to be a Hindu. And all religions, no matter what religion you are, consider yourself the chosen. Because the day you were born, God said, "The world can no longer exist without you." So, you are an integral part of creation. And God chose that you get born, and God gave you a soul, a a soul that's your whole vitality, your whole life is dependent on that soul. If that soul leaves your body, then we die. So, as long as the soul is within you, we need to realize that this is a part of God. And God is counting on us to protect the soul, >> [snorts] >> and to allow the soul to inspire us to make the right decisions in life. So, to our original question, who is the chosen one? The answer is you are. You were [snorts] chosen by God to be born, to live a godly life, to live an honest life, to live a meaningful life, a purposeful life. Our journey in this world should not just be a monotonous day in and day out, but every day should be a special day. Every day should be a day of gratefulness. In the Jewish religion, as soon as you wake up in the morning, the very first word you say is, "Thank you." Modeh. Thank [snorts] you. Could you imagine that? As a little baby, my parents woke me up, the first thing I said repeat, modeh, say thank you. When you wake up in the morning, the first thing comes to your mind is, "Thank you." You look over, and you see who's lying next to you, who's around you, who's in your home. Say, "Thank you." Thank you, God. Modeh ani lifnecha. Thank you so much for giving me another day. Thank you for allowing me to be alive, to stay alive, and God protect me so I can live another day. And that is our journey. So, you need to realize the fact that you are alive today is by design, not by chance. Cuz God is counting on you. God is relying on you that you should be an ambassador to make this world a better place. So, go out there, be the light unto the world. Give a smile even if you're not in the mood. Say a kind word to a fellow coworker, family member, even if you don't mean it. Lend someone a hand. Be a shoulder someone can lean on. Give someone an embrace who needs it. Notice people around you. Engage with them cuz realize that God is counting on you. And not only is God counting on you, God is giving you the means and the provisions to see your mission through to its completeness. So, let's all embrace our mission in this world. Let's all do random acts of goodness and kindness even if we're not in the mood just yet. But when you wake up and you're all dressed and ready to go to the world, put on a smile. You never know what that smile does. You never underestimate the ripple effect that just small gestures, small small kindness can have such a ripple effect around you. You may have saved a person's life just by giving them a a a nice smile, a kind word, a good morning. A A You showed them that you cared. When you show that you care about God's people, then God will care about you as well. God bless you. God loves you.